I Wish I Were a Photographer

Monday, March 9, 2015

How exciting! This is my first week of participating in Whimsical Windows, Delirious Doors! without actually hosting it! Pretty cool :) Here goes!

Today I'm sharing something close to home, actually, all the way in my home :)Here in Israel, as you've probably noticed, a lot of our windows are covered with strong bars, both to keep bad guys out, and also to keep good guys in! When we bought our apartment, which is a few flights up, we decided not to cover our beautiful mountain views with bars, since the likelihood of someone climbing all the way up to climb in seemed unlikely, and not worth the cost of ruining the view. We found a way to lock most all the windows so that our then-toddlers couldn't fall out, and all seemed good. But there was one specific window that swung out, and so couldn't be locked as the other were. Since it happened to have a four-flight drop below it, we quickly decided to cover it with bars, but wanted to get the prettiest ones that we could. And here they are!

Nice, right?For more architectural photography, go and check out Whimsical Windows, Delirious Doors! over at Ralph's place, you'll be glad that you did! Thanks for stopping by everyone, have a great week!

Monday, March 2, 2015

After Mary stopped her Window Views... and Doors, Too! meme back in 2011 (wow! I can't believe it was 2011!!) I decided to try and fill her shoes, and slowly started up my own version, called Whimsical Windows, Delirious Doors! I figured it was a good way to make sure that I blogged at least once weekly, plus, as a retired architecture student, I really enjoyed that particular challenge. Anyway, it's been a long time, and although I still really enjoy taking architectural shots, I sadly don't have the time to devote to this project any longer :(

But there's good news! Actually, great news :) Our good friend Ralph, who has been a loyal WWDD participant since the very start, has agreed to carry on the torch! And so, as of next week, you're all invited to pop over to Airhead-55, and sign up with your window and/or door of the week! Thank you Ralph! I do hope to participate as often as I can, and I hope that you all will too! I look forward to seeing how you make WWDD even better :)

Meanwhile, this is the last week that I'll be hosting our sweet little meme, and I did promise you all some closer views of those storybook windows that I posted last week. I drove around that wall that we saw, and found all of these, just waiting to be photographed. I have to say, I really like them - I'm completely enchanted by the idea of row houses that aren't identical - each with slightly different detailing and attention :) Enjoy!

Wow, what a collection! I was really happy to stumble across these :)

Please play along with us here at Whimsical Windows, Delirious Doors! Just post your photo of a window, door, or anything architectural, link here, and sign up in the widget, below! Thanks so much for coming by, and thanks so much to all of you who have been coming here for so long, and sharing your local views with us! Have a wonderful, whimsical week, everyone - see you next week over at Ralph's :)

Sunday, February 22, 2015

Last week I shared a building with you that I found in Jerusalem's Gilo neighborhood. Walking back to my car, I suddenly saw a whole row of fascinating windows, off in the distance:

Really cool looking, right? Naturally I couldn't resist going closer to get a better look - which I'll happily share with you next week :)Meanwhile, it's your turn! Please play along with us here at Whimsical Windows, Delirious Doors! Just post your photo of a window, door, or anything architectural, link here, and sign up in the widget, below. Then go and visit the other players, that's the best part! Week after week I find it amazing just how similar and just how different we are, in so many ways :)Thanks for stopping by - have a wonderful, whimsical week, everyone!

Monday, February 16, 2015

I was in Jerusalem's Gilo neighborhood a few weeks ago, at a shopping center that I often frequent. From across the street, I suddenly noticed these high windows and balconies looking at me - I don't recall seeing them before:

I have a feeling that this used to be a pretty classy building - there's a lot of attention to detail around the windows, and the balconies themselves are pretty unique. But Jerusalem stone often discolors if not tended to properly, and this seems to be the case here. I hope the inside has aged better than the outside!Now it's your turn! Please play along with us here at Whimsical Windows, Delirious Doors! Just post your photo of a window, door, or anything architectural, link here, and sign up in the widget. Then go and visit the other players - seeing what people have posted from around the globe is the most fun of all! Thanks for coming by - have a wonderful week, everyone! And for those of you in the Northern Hemisphere: stay warm and dry :)

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Here's my 52Frames shot for this week. I don't know why, but I can't seem to bring myself to photograph the cliche - when I hear the words "love story" I know I'm supposed to pose cute couples walking down the beach, hand in hand, but somehow, my brain comes up with this. I called it Story of a Broken Heart:

Oh well. I'm doing this weekly challenge for two reasons - one, to actually use my fancy camera (which is turning out to be a lot of fun!), and two, to explore and expand myself as a wanna-be photographer. I'm not sure if I'm limiting or expanding myself by taking shots like these... I just know that ever since I was a kid, I've wanted to be my own person. Even now, things that are common or popular make me a little bit nervous. So it doesn't surprise me that my photos don't look like the rest of the album. I just don't know if it qualifies as expansion or not :)Anyway, check out the rest of the album, here! And have a nice week, everyone :)

Monday, February 9, 2015

There's talk of snow again this week! I personally have a hard time believing it - just a few days ago I was comfortably wearing sandals :) But the weather is indeed much chillier than it was then, so I guess you just never know. Anyway, all this talk made me realize that I never posted any pictures of our neighborhood in the last snowstorm. Truthfully, that's mostly because there wasn't much snow to speak of, and it melted almost immediately... but still: with no further ado, here is the view from my window, just about a month ago:

Here are the statues of sheep at a park not far from my house - I really like this photo :)

Then, later that night:

The next day everything promptly turned to slush. But a day later, we got another lovely sprinkling:

I know, I know, for those of you who live in areas that actually get snow on a regular basis, this is a joke. But for us, it was a lot of fun! Please feel free to click on any of the photos, if you'd like a closer view - that last one is particularly sparkly :)

Now it's your turn! Please play along with us here at Whimsical Windows, Delirious Doors! Just post your photo of a window, door, or anything architectural, link here, and sign up in the widget, below. Then go and visit the other players, that's the most fun of all! Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a wonderful, whimsical week, everyone!

Monday, February 2, 2015

Well done, all of you! You've waited very patiently since last week's teaser, when I promised you amazing hotel photos. Honestly, there are so many, I'm not even sure I should put them all in the same post... nah, I'll let you have them now. No need to be unnecessarily mean :)

The outside is actually quite modest, I'm not sure I would have identified it as a hotel had my husband not led me right to the door:

Then when you first walk in, you're greeted by these beautiful floors:

Then when you manage to pry your eyes away from the floor, you find yourself surrounded by the most intense art-deco everything...

Walk a little further in, and you find yourself in the main lobby, designed to look like an outdoor courtyard:

It looks like a lot of the hotel rooms overlook this space:

And here's this cool chandelier thing, as a grande finale:

Wow that's nice! I'm sure I can't afford to stay there, but if you're ever in Jerusalem and looking for a lovely lobby to hang out in for a little while, do check out the new Waldorf-Astoria :)Now it's your turn! Please play along with us here at Whimsical Windows, Delirious Doors! Just post your photo of a window, door, or anything architectural, link here, and sign up in the widget, below. Thanks for stopping by - have a wonderful, whimsical week, everyone! And if you're in the currently freezing areas of North America, do try to stay warm and dry!!

This week we were supposed to post something that was descriptive of where we live. It was my hardest challenge so far. What epitomizes Efrat, in my
mind, is swarms of little kids playing in the park. But the cold weather
this week pretty much kept the swarms of kids away, and during my one
attempt, I found that taking photos of other people's kids in the park
was creepier than I had expected :)

So I settled for a random local pretty view - a
classic view of grape vines. We see
these all over the place here in Gush Etzion. It's a nice photo, I
guess, but I confess that it doesn't terribly inspire me... Here's hoping for better luck next week!

Monday, January 26, 2015

Last week, if you recall, my husband and I were roaming around Jerusalem. After strolling through the Yemin Moshe neighborhood, and having a lovely dinner, we carried on walking a bit. Dave wanted to show me a new hotel that had been built recently, but on the way there, we found this one - isn't it pretty?

You'll have to wait until next week to see the new one - and believe me, it's worth the wait!

Now it's your turn! Please play along with us here at Whimsical Windows, Delirious Doors! Just post your photo of a window, door, or anything architectural, link here, and sign up in the widget, below. Then go and visit the other participants, that's the most fun of all! Thanks for stopping by, all, and have a wonderful, whimsical week!

Sunday, January 18, 2015

For our anniversary, not too long ago, my husband and I wandered around Jerusalem a bit, and had dinner. We started out in Yemin Moshe, a neighborhood just outside the Old City. Yemin Moshe is a very beautiful, unique neighborhood, paved in cobblestone, but its best known landmark is its windmill:

It also has lots of pretty windows and doors, which were very intriguing to see at night:

Lovely!Now it's your turn! Please play along with us here at Whimsical Windows, Delirious Doors! by posting your photo or photos of a window, door, or anything architectural, linking here, and sign up in the widget, below. Thanks so much for stopping by - have a wonderful, whimsical week, all!

About Me

What I've got on my feet - right now!

Short disclaimer:

Now that I've had this little blog for a while, it's come to my attention that there's a concept of SOOC - Straight Out Of the Camera. I just wanted to let y'all know that every one of my photos fits that category - I don't photoshop or otherwise play with the photos I take, with the exception of an occasional crop.

Oh, and if I already have you on the line: All photos on this blog were taken by me unless stated otherwise, and are my creative property. I'm a big believer in sharing - just ask my kids - and you're welcome to share them, as long as you link back here when you do!